The Great Heathen Army

After the somehow mediocre albums like Deceiver of the Gods, Jomsviking and Berserker, The Great Heathen Army has been the biggest surprise in a long time for me. I did not expect anything, actually I was pretty let down by their latest albums, so I was expecting just a standard Amon Amarth stuff that I´d forget right after the last song had ended.

A mistake. The Great Heaten Army is a fucking KILLLER!!

What a great time I had listening to the album. Amon Amarth has taken a new breath of quality of composition, melodies and ideas. To be honest, from my perspective it came to Once Sent from the Golden Hall´s brilliance closer than any other Amon Amarth album they had released. Amon Amarth released several music videos that, to be honest, did not fit the mood of the album. They were weird and that is why the music itself felt somehow weak. However, listening the full album without any video distraction, the songs can finally breath and they make a sense in the album´s perspective. Just like Darkthrone´s single Hate Cloak was not too exciting when the music video was released, however after the full ablum was released Hate Cloak showed its full strength and its rightful place on the album.

There are fast and brutal songs like Get in the Ring or Oden Owns You All, there are moody songs like Dawn of Norsemen or the ending The Serpent's Trail and there are very melodic songs like catchy Heidrun or Find a Way or Make One. None of the song is a filler, every song has its sense and reason why is on the album. Though don´t expect any surprising experiments, we are talking about Amon Amarth here and they are not known by their experimentation at all. Except one piece - the brilliant Saxons and Vikings. In the song Amon Amarth is accompanied by the band Saxon itself. Not only that the vocals of the both vocalists serve like an exciting battle between a Viking and a Saxon, but the song also contains a brilliant long heavy metal solo.

What I don´t really like about the album is not anything on the album, it is the thing coming from the outside. For example, the song Get in the Ring does not get enough credits as due to the stupid music video many associated the song with an entrance theme for a wrestler. In reality this song has nothing to do with wrestling, nor it is aimed to be a theme for a wrestler. That´s totally nonsense. The song is about a Viking challening an enemy for a fight one on one. In reality there is no ring, no ropes, no... wrestling. I think Amon Amarth should stop making videos like this because the message of such videos is completely different from the message of the songs themselves. The same applies for the song Find a Way or Make One. In the video we can see the members of the band in suits and offices. I mean... Yeah, there is a metaphor behind it, of course I get it, however it does not fit the mood of the song. Such a metaphor is totally unnecessary. The song is about a Viking trying to survive his battle in battlefield with his axe and thoughts of his Gods he believes in. Really, these videos harmed the album in my opinion.

But back to the album. Get in the Ring is a fantastic opening. Brutal, yet melodic. The title song The Great Heathen Army is a hymnic song that was definitely written to be sing along with the crowd during concerts. I can imagine this song being the last in the set. Nothing wrong about it but regarding the writing itself it is not as spectacular as the rest of the album. The most funny song is the third one, the supermelodic Heidrun. Heidrun is a goat that produces mead for the einherjar, so regarding this theme nobody could really expect a serious song with grimmy melodies. That is why the song is so catchy and it does not take itself too seriously. Despite its relaxing atmosphere it does not subvert the album, not at all. This just proves how good Amon Amarth is at mixing melodies with death metal. Oden Owns You All is the next song and it serves as an eye-opening song after the catchy song before. As if it says "Hey, we´re still Amon Amarth. We love to jest, but we´re still the brutal band." This is the heaviest and fastest song on the album, a song where death metal meets groove metal. The first half of the album is closed by the already mentioned Find a Way or Make One. It is a good Amon Amarth song, amongst the most melodic on the album, though definitely not as "free-thinking" as Heidrun.

The second half of the album is much darker. The fifth song Dawn of Norsemen brings memories of Once Sent from the Golden Hall with its rainy mood and the lyrics serving as a story about Vikings appearing at the shores of England and spreading fear amongst its inhabitants. Very nice! Now it is time for the already mentioned Saxons and Vikings. Indeed a brilliant song with an unexpected twist. The last two songs on the album are Skagul Rides with Me and The Serpent's Trail. The two are the slowest songs on The Great Heathen Army and also the most atmospheric. They have nice compositions, grizzly harmonies and they force listeners to think about what they have experienced during listening this album. Of these two I prefer the last one as Skagul Rides with Me seems to me a bit underdeveloped, it´s missing a strong middle section and variabilities at its end.

The Great Heathen Army is full of epic and beautiful melodies that are a trademark of their first albums. What a welcome return to form! I am really happy that Amon Amarth was finally able to compose an album with qualities that can be found on their early material. Thank you Amon Amarth for this album! I will remember it as one of your best work ever.

Pros
- no filler, every song is interesting in its own way
- grimmy atmosphere
- sad yet beautiful melodies
- Saxons and Vikings is a very well done experiment
- brutal vocals
- nice compositions

Cons
- The Great Heathen Army and Skagul Rides with Me needed a bit more time in the oven IMHO